Make your own butterfly & pond net!

I love the shears over our bookcases - they really clear a lot of visual clutter.  And we have another whole bag of frilly ones in the shed just waiting for a purpose!  What to do with them?  Sew up some butterfly nets of course ;0)  I found a super easy pattern in "The Kids' Nature Book" (a crafty thing to do every day of the year by seasons) & jumped in.  HB didn't want to part w/ any of her terrible wire hangers (I don't use those EVER, thanks to the movie "Mommy Dearest"!!) so I dug some bailing wire out of the shed.  That shed is a wonderland of useful hidden junk.  After charging the battery on the drill I made a small hole in the ends of 2 sticks, 'cause of course with 2 little ones I will need 2 nets.  I cut the shears, ruffles & all & voila, nets!  Ok, there was a tiny bit of sewing involved, but really it was 'sew' easy.....

So many possibilities for these simple patterns - continent bags, purses - the pocket along the top for the wire is even already there b/c that's where the rod would normally go for the curtains!  The one on the left is actually the bottom of the curtain so the wire is strung through the hem.

We had to try them out right away - no fish but lots of life on the bottom of the lake that came home for a few days.  We've had a blast identifying the critters - some pics to come in a future post.

HB enjoyed the nets as well - but we didn't try to get any dragonflies or butterflies...apparently I "mimimalized" my butterfly house :0(  That's ok - next project is to make one with the old CURTAINS!